Feature: Advocacy

During a session at the 2007 Online News Association conference in Toronto, Canada, I had a chance to point my video camera at Forbes columnist (and Fake Steve Jobs blogger) Dan Lyons. He told me that people who say he dislikes Linux are not being fair to him; that out of 70 articles he's written about Linux, 67 have been positive, and he absolutely denies that he is paid by Microsoft to write what he does about Linux, Apple, or anything else.

More Groklaw non-love for Dan Lyons is hidden in these Groklaw search results for those who want to dig through them. And here's a sample of Dan's love for PJ. Plus, for more of Dan's writing about SCO and Linux, not all of which comes across as overly positive to a disinterested reader, you may want to check his own (real, not "Fake Steve Jobs") blog, Floating Point.

After wading though some of the Lyons vs. PJ mire while writing this brief piece, I found myself wondering, "Aren't we all supposed to be grown-up journalists, or bloggers, or whatever? Aren't Linux and Free Software supposed to be about love and harmony and making the world a better place? Can't we, please, smile on our brother, everybody love one another, right now?"

In any case, old-hippie sentiments aside, Dan Lyons says that despite the many attacks on him as a supposedly anti-Linux attack dog, he loves Linux. And uses it. And that he has trouble understanding why anyone would think he doesn't love Linux.

Some of the video sound (notably my voice) is poor, since it was shot hurriedly in a noisy room, not in a controlled studio setting with proper microphone placement. But Dan comes through loud and clear, and that's what counts.

liar liar pants on fire

I guess he thinks people can't read. But then his contempt for his readers shines through loud and clear in everything he writes, as well as his contempt for ethics, and contempt for basic principles of journalism, such as "do your homework" and "verify your facts." His "Snowed By SCO" piece was a masterpiece of hogwash, spin, and outright lies. http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/19/software-linux-lawsuits-tech-oped-cx_dl_0919lyons.html

Attention whore

Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 154.20.191.4]
on October 25, 2007 11:20 PM

Guys like Dan Lyons and Rob Enderle are professional trolls. The more they get quoted in the press, the more money they make, hence they have an incentive to say controversial things that get people riled up. When people confront them on it, they usually back track or say "it was a joke". It is the same strategy that Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh use to drive ratings and book sales.

Re: Attention whore

Re: Attention whore

Posted by: Zerias
on October 26, 2007 06:37 PM

Someone else beat me to it. But you apparently never have listened to Rush if you honestly believe what you said. I can't speak for Ann Coulter, I've never read any of her stuff or listened to her enough to have a valid opinion... but I do know this: 41 Senators outright lied in a document sent to Clear Channel and pretended what they thought was the truth. And nobody in AP, NBC, CBS, or ABC dared to call them on the lies. When your opposition has to resort to blatant fabrication in order to attack you? Somethings wrong. Sound familiar? Try it's a tactic used by Microsoft. Let me spell it out for you even more clearly. Hillary Clinton is sponsored by the RIAA and MPAA, the two media organizations on a rampage to remove user rights and user freedoms. The RIAA and MPAA work together closely with Microsoft and Intel Corporation to remove user freedoms, examples being Windows Media Audio and it's Janus platform; The Palladium technology with "Trusted Platform Module; HDCP which removes user control over video and audio content; EFI which is the Extensible Firmware Interface that is used to lock consumers out of their computers; not even thinking about the original BIOS which is less than clearly defined in operation.

Get this through your head. Liberals and Democrats are the enemies to Open Source and Open Licensed Programs Democrats and Liberals do NOT Believe in personal freedoms, or freedoms at all. They believe in socialism and removing end consumers rights. I do not hold to that. If you honestly think that a Liberal Democrat has your interests in mind as a Linux user or a supporter of freedom? You are either A: Seriously Deluded, or B: Brain Damaged

Now, you may not like Rush Limbaugh, and you may like Ann Coulter. You may not like Michael Reagon or Michael Savage. You may loathe Neal Boortz. What you don't really have an option to is that these are the people who ARE your friends. They are the ones calling the socialists for what they are. They are the ones who are not letting Liberal Democrats get away with their lies. They are the one who CONFRONT those who Confront them.

Somewhere you got the opinion that Rush ducks when somebody confronts him. I don't think so. With that opinion I know you have never listened to his show, at all. When somebody confronts him, Rush is known for hauling out a flamethrower and hanging with the best UseNet ever produced. However, you never see the rebuttals reposted. Why? Read back up and figure out exactly who the AP, ABC, CBS, and NBC are affiliated with and who owns them. It isn't Rocket Science. It's 2+2 math.

Re(1): Attention whore

LOL, anyone who sees the world as "Republicans and conservatives good, liberals and democrats bad!" has already proven they're incapable of facing facts or engaging in any kind of rational, critical thinking.

Grown-up ...

I would like to respond to the statement "Aren't we all supposed to be grown-up journalists, or bloggers, or whatever? Aren't Linux and Free Software supposed to be about love and harmony and making the world a better place? Can't we, please, smile on our brother, everybody love one another, right now?"

This statement while expressing a laudable wish, rather unfortunately puts mr. Lyons and mrs. Pamela Jones on the same level.

I'm afraid that this, while again laudable in its attempt to pour oil on troubled waters, does not do justice to the facts underlying the controversy. Looking back at mr. Lyons publications, and those of mrs. Pamela Jones, I cannot escape the distinct impression that mrs. Jone was completely right in her assessment of mr. Lyons, and that mr. Lyons was wrong.

Wrong in his facts. Wrong in the way he presented them. Ethically wrong in refusing to acknowledge help. And finally wrong in refusing to apologise after having been proven wrong.

I know ... it's hard to come to such a conclusion when you have no idea of what actually happened, and say something like "Ah well ... the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Let's all forget about what happened and go our merry way".

When you take the time to dig, and when you take the trouble to actually read what mr. Lyons wrote and what later proved to be the case the conclusion that mr. Lyons was in the strongly presents itself.

Perhaps I can cite mrs. Pamela Jones when she responds to the idea that she was being unfair to mr. Lyons.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You're being unfair to Lyons
Authored by: PJ on Friday, September 21 2007 @ 04:59 PM EDT
You are assuming he is sincere and not just
worried about his reputation. He didn't just
"poke fun" at Groklaw. He aimed his SUV at
us and tried to mow us down, so to speak. He
started that whole PJ is not what she seems blarney,
based on what? He and I had spoken and emailed
for months. None of the evidence I provided him
back in 2003-4 ever appeared in any of his articles.
Instead he mocked me and us and tried to get others to
think badly of us.

He still is, with the "nerds" and "amateur sleuths"
junk. I am not an amateur sleuth. I've done legal
research as my profession for some time. And
Groklaw is made up of CEOs and managers of projects
and lawyers and programmers. Linus is a member
of Groklaw. Is he an amateur? If so, I'd like to
be one. How dare he denigrate
our work, even *after* we are proven right. How
dare you accuse me falsely, by the way.

Any damage to his reputation he did to himself.
I tried very sincerely to help him and so did
others, including Linus. He chose his course and
now he must live with it until he apologizes
to me personally for smearing me and damaging my
good name, which is precious to me. When people
are really sorry, they try to make amends, and
that is what I'm waiting for. That Attack of the
Blogs article damaged my good name unjustly.
ANd that article was never corrected, even after
an internet journalists' organization wrote to
Forbes and gave them proof the article was factually
in error.

IF he is sorry, he should fix that so there isn't
eternal damage done by the article which is still
out there, still doing damage.

Dan Lyons is an adult who is a senior editor?

Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 75.80.138.226]
on October 26, 2007 03:26 AM

Following the links to this story really surprised me. considering how unprofessional and sloppy his writing is, I did not expect him to be a guy in a suit. Especially not a senior editor for Forbes, I thought he was just a contributor. you learn something new every day.

roblimo, you're either trolling or need a vacation

"Aren't Linux and Free Software supposed to be about love and harmony and making the world a better place? Can't we, please, smile on our brother, everybody love one another, right now?"

Are you serious? Free software has never been about "bend over and take it," which is what you're implying. But about openness, accountability, and honesty. Three qualities completely missing in Mr. Lyons. How does not calling rampant FUDsters like Dan Lyons on their bull make the world a better place? How does being all lovey with the people who try to destroy FOSS make the world a better place? Mr. Lyons repeatedly attacked and libeled PJ- she should just lie back and enjoy it?

Another amature 'journalist'....

After spanking Dan publicly I gave him the benefit of the doubt that his apology was sincere.
I was wrong. He's done nothing but denigrate the hard working professionals in the FOSS community.

FOSS is about the scientific approach to software IMHO. Such expectations are demanded in medical research for example but it's humorous why they would not be so in software development. In FOSS, open peer review is the norm. Lyons and the idiots at Forbes (Tim you still never showed up for our online debate) still have no clue what the scientific method and accountability are about.

I rank them right up there with the idiots at Readers Digest who just published an article that you should not take Vitamins A, C, E, Omega Acids and other antioxidants. Complete unscientific hogwash. Not to mention the fact that they have over 6 pages of ads by big pharma in their magazines. Kind of like C/ZD-Net and their Microsoft ads.... I mean articles.

I'd really like to hear the interview, but with this Toshiba laptop (A215-S7422) that would mean I'd have to boot into the OS that came with the laptop, Vista, since I can't get sound working with Linux. I haven't booted into Vista since installing Debian Etch when I first got the laptop about a month ago, and I'm not about to start doing it now. Guess I'll have to wait a couple of years for all the proper sound modules, scripts and configuration file changes to make it into the next kernel and whatever version of Debian is out (as stable) a few years from now (lenny?).